07/03/2012

Sunday Night Journal — July 1, 2012

Gender Studies

I was away from Friday afternoon till Monday night and didn't have time for writing. And I have to admit straightaway that it's cheating a bit to call this a Sunday Night Journal, because the pictures below were taken Monday morning. But I don't want to leave a gap in the SNJ series, so here we are.

These three pictures are of three sections of a magazine stand in the airport in San Jose, California (I suppose there are other San Joses). There were two sections labelled Women's Interest and one labelled Men's Interest. Taken together, I think they're worth considerably more than a thousand words of academic gender studies, because they're the work of people who have gone to a great deal of trouble and expense to find out what people really want, according to the criterion of what they're willing to pay money for.

Women 1

Women 2

Men

On the basis of this, it would seem that women are mainly interested in food, houses, and being sexy, while men are interested in sports and sex (fitness has some connection to both). Those three blacked-out spaces at the top of the men's section are sex magazines apparently too graphic for public display. Also maybe that women read more than men.

Of course I don't think this is the whole story, or representative of all men and women, or representative of the truly deep needs of both, but I think it reveals a certain amount of truth.

A Very Large Tree

And here's something else from my travels, something much more rewarding to contemplate.

This was taken in the Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park in the Santa Cruz mountains of California.

Comments

You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

What does it say about me that I've never bought any of the magazines featured in the windows?

That tree is amazing. When I was in California as a kid I went to a redwood forest in the north part of the state, and I remember the awe-inspiring size of them. I didn't know there were redwoods so close to San Francisco.

But looking at the magazine covers instead, where are the popular science and technology titles? Politics and finance? The magazines for the stamp collector and the model railway enthusiast, or those dealing with literature, history or philosophy?

Neither have I, Craig. And I've been meaning to look into the Cowell connection. It is the same Henry Cowell. This tree is the biggest in the park, though there are many others that would dwarf anything that most of us would consider a big tree. It's probably well over 2000 years old.

Actually, Paul, there were some sci/tech magazines, as well as automotive, and other things which are likely to interest men more than women, so in a way it's misleading that only this one section was specifically labelled Men's. But then there was one entire rack the same size as these which was all entertainment/celebrity stuff, which I think is read mostly by women. I believe the stamp collectors and model railway enthusiasts were entirely neglected, and I know those interested in literature, history, or philosophy were. Sufficient grounds for a legal complaint, maybe.